Mara stalked into her Niflheim apartment, and with a growl kicked a floor pillow across the room. Argh!!! And things were going so well, too. Plopping into the comfortable reading chair beside her bookshelf, she leaned back and indulged in a long string of curses, from modern languages to ones so long dead that their very existence had been forgotten. Finally running down, she sighed and, straightening up and focusing a small thread of summoning power, snapped her fingers.
Instantly, an imp appeared in a nearby permanent summoning circle. Glancing around, it located Mara and bowed. “Mara, I’ve been expecting your summons. How may Gorash serve you tonight?”
Motioning for Gorash to take a seat, Mara said, “Gorash, your initiative in bringing the relationship between Nabiki and Ranma to my attention was well done, no fault to you that I was too busy to read it immediately; the report was also well written. I’ve written a note of appreciation and had it placed in your file.”
Gorash stood on its seat and bowed. “Your approbation for your servant’s service is much appreciated.”
Mara smiled knowingly as Gorash again sat down. “Very pretty! Your ‘service’ under Gosunkugi getting frustrating?” Her smile turned to an outright laugh at Gorash’s growl. “When I was watching Nabiki and Ranma I didn’t sense you anywhere around. Are you finished with your assignment to Gosunkugi?”
Gorash nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, he summoned me during his school’s lunch break. He was most disappointed when all I could give him was the nature spirit’s use-name and told me not to darken his doorway again,” it said with a distinct lack of dejection at its ‘failure’.
“Great!” Mara responded. “From now until I tell you otherwise, consider yourself attached to my service.”
Gorash again stood and bowed, this time with more sincerity. “My thanks, Mistress, I’m gratified that you want me in your service.”
“You earned it,” Mara asserted. “However, I’m afraid you aren’t going to like your first assignment very much. First, do you think that Nabiki noticed your spying?”
Gorash frowned thoughtfully. “I can’t say for certain — from what I’ve heard she’s usually very good at keeping control of her face and body language, but she seemed distracted this past week. Still, I’d say the odds are good that she noticed me and was simply too good to let me know it.”
Mara nodded. “About what I expected. I want you to take another two imps of your choosing and resume your shadowing of Nabiki — however, I want you to allow her to know one of you is there, if she doesn’t already, without letting her know that you know she knows. While you are watching her, keep an eye out for any other supernatural creatures spying on her. If you notice any, have one of your companions report immediately and the other stick with Nabiki, while you shadow the shadowers yourself — report every other day regardless, and if anything sufficiently unusual to warrant my attention occurs.”
Gorash sighed but nodded. “Yes, Mistress, it will be done.”
Mara grinned at her new servitor. “I know, it’ll be boring. But at least you’ll be spying for someone that can make decent use of what you’ve learned. And eventually, I expect things to get rather exciting.”
Gorash brightened at the thought. “There is that. Very well, Mistress, with your permission I’ll get started right away.” And at Mara’s wave of dismissal the imp walked over to the summoning circle and vanished.
Mara leaned back in her reading chair again as a pensive look crossed her face, and stared at the ceiling for several minutes, only to jerk up straight at a knock on her door. Getting up with a sigh, she opened the door and stared at the figure standing there.
It was Calise, dressed to the nines in knee-high boots, black net stockings, a leather extra-wide belt doing duty as a miniskirt, and a black leather halter top with gold calligraphy embroidered around the breast panels. Mara whistled as she motioned her friend into the apartment. “Looking good, girl, expecting a party?”
“Eventually,” Calise said with a wink. “But first, I noticed you summoned Gorash and thought I’d see how your day went.”
Chuckling as Calise sat down on the couch and Mara again leaned back in her reading chair, Mara asked, “Curious about Ranma, are you?”
“Well, she is something of a mystery,” Calise agreed. “Plus, I was wondering about the Nabiki situation.”
Mara sighed and stared at the ceiling. “This afternoon I watched and listened in on what’s going on with Nabiki, and my plans for her are, quite literally, completely fucked. I’m now in salvage mode — simply waiting until one of her blackmail victims kills her and recruiting her when she shows up in Niflheim is no longer an option.”
Glancing back at Calise, Mara said, “It turns out that there’s a good reason Ranma’s name didn’t come up in your record search — Ranma’s not actually a succubus, or at least not one all the time. Could you check Records for any file we might have for a male, probably human, named Ranma?”
Calise stared at her friend. “You mean Ranma’s a man that turns into a succubus? How did that happen?”
Shrugging, Mara said, “I don’t know how it happened yet, and from what I overheard I’d say he’s a boy rather than a man, though already a skilled martial artist. He’s been trained by his father, among others. Apparently, cold water activates the change — I’d say that the flashes of summoning magic your observers were picking up were a summons reactivating whenever the change took place. So, can you do the records search for me?”
“Sure, no problem, now my curiosity is fully engaged. So what are your plans now?”
“It’s simple enough, Calise. Since we can’t wait for Nabiki to continue to develop the way we want until she dies and go with the ‘better to reign in Hell’ offer, we’ll have to go with ‘the end justified the means’ instead. She doesn’t know it, but she’s made an enemy that can squash her and hers like a bug, or at least his family can. And daddy dearest probably will in order to maintain family unity and position, even if he sits on Hikaru at the same time to keep him from doing anything else stupid. So we keep her alive long enough for her to get desperate, then offer our protection for her and hers in return for her sworn service.”
Calise nodded thoughtfully. “Not bad, for an off-the-cuff improvisation. Do you think it will really work?”
Mara shrugged. “We’ll see. I certainly hope so, because there is no plan C. Anyway, that can wait until tomorrow, no need to skip the party you’re headed to.”
“The party we’re headed to, girlfriend,” Calise responded with a saucy smile.
“Huh?”
“I know you, girl. These little adventures of yours with the Norns, especially Urd, always end the same way — you getting a pity drunk on in your apartment and going to work the next morning hung over and frustrated. Well, not this time! You’re going to get cleaned up, dressed up, and dolled up. Then we’re going to hit a club and show them how it’s done, and pick up a couple of studs, or three or four, and let them show us how it’s done. You’ll still be getting to work without much rest, but for a much better reason.”
Mara stared at her friend for a moment, then straightened up and hopped out of her chair and headed for the bedroom. “Calise, when you’re right, you’re right. Make yourself at home while I get ready, and we’ll go make some lucky guys very happy and let them return the favor.”
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(Posted Mon, 18 May 2009 22:27)
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